Any computer wizzes in the house?

Off-Topic Chat
1

Hey guys. .. so how very dumb of me.
I havent had any security on my laptop for a long time... but I never really realised anything until lately and low and behold I believe I have been HACKED.

Anyone know what security is best and cheap, better yet... free? Should I wipe my computer what do I do?! I aren't coping with this well. Because it's git my life in it. Thousands of pictures of my little girl from birth to now! I'm freaking out. I'm thinking of getting some sort of hard drive to put all my pictures and important stuff on!? Help! Please ?

2

To start with, if possible i would run this http://housecall.trendmicro.com/uk/

Sorry I'm not much help.

3

Look at Avast. It is free for a basic package and not too much for premium. I use it for pc and mobile.

4

Thank you, what is it? On my phone atm so will wait for WiFi on laptop..

Also.

It was an email I got, and the user looked friendly. It was an amazon gift card voucher, when I tried redeeming it. It wouldn't let me. So I was super confused. I have just gone back to the email and the user photo is a big "!" So I reckon it's from there. I'm terrified I don't want to lose all these pictures as well as alot of personal info!

5

AsYouWish! wrote:

Look at Avast. It is free for a basic package and not too much for premium. I use it for pc and mobile.

Thank you !
6

Hi, Ink when you say you have been hacked what are the symptoms. I can recommend a few options, but it does depend on what has happened.

7

I'm sorry to hear that :(

I've always used Norton, it's fairly pricey though unfortunately but does offer really good protection and gets rid of viruses/spyware quickly. (I think it protects you from hackers too)

I also have an external hard drive I use to back up my entire PC just in case anything like this happens, you can get them for around £40.

Sorry I couldn't offer more advice, hope you get it sorted out soon! xx

8

Boogaloo wrote:

I'm sorry to hear that :(

I've always used Norton, it's fairly pricey though unfortunately but does offer really good protection and gets rid of viruses/spyware quickly. (I think it protects you from hackers too)

I also have an external hard drive I use to back up my entire PC just in case anything like this happens, you can get them for around £40.

Sorry I couldn't offer more advice, hope you get it sorted out soon! xx

Another vote for Norton, it is not the cheapest, but it's always worked for me. And the hard drive is an excellent idea.

I'm sorry about your rotten luck :(

9

TangledLover wrote:

Hi, Ink when you say you have been hacked what are the symptoms. I can recommend a few options, but it does depend on what has happened.

I aren't actually too sure at the minute, but as soon as I suspected something my paranoia KICKED IN and now I'm a real mess and screwing like hell !
10

Clouds are good for photos too. You might already have some free storage if you use Google for example.

11

First thing I would try is to install Malwarebytes, use the free version and do a full scan. This will likely pick up the infection, it sound like a trojan attached to the email file. Malwarebytes should clean the computer, you can then install a free virus checker and fire Wall, I use Comodo but Avast is also good. Let me know how it goes and I will try and help if you have further problems.

12

AVG + Zonealarm. I've had this combo for more than ten years and it always worked perfectly. Hadn't had a virus in ages.

13

Sorry to hear this Kinks. We use 'BT NetProtect Plus' as it is free with our BT package, and we have found it to be very good so far. It may be worth you taking your PC to PC World, as they have a tech team in store who can have a look at your laptop and assess the damage for you. They have set prices for what they do, and we have heard they are quite reasonable.

Also they should be able to get your pictures off there for you to and save them for you, and go through how to back up etc. We use a portable hard drive to back up everything, which works really well xxx

14

First off download Malwarebytes and do a scan then as suggested something like Avast free is great. If it's just some spam amazon code and you didn't run a program or whatever then chances are you'll be fine but of course run a scan as I said and install anti-virus and even change your amazon passwork just in case.

What email service are you using? If it a web service like gmail then always check the email address it's coming from. In gmail if you open the email it shows the sender then next to it the actual email address it comes from, in Outlook you click the two arrows symbol next to where it says To: and in Yahoo you hover over the sender and it shows the exact email address.

Also when your clicking on links within emails check the web address/URL that you go to because it might say amazon vouchers/codes but take you to a random site like this as a basic example: hairandnailsalon.hu/something/something/amazon.php

Hope this is helpful to you and that you haven't got any viruses or anything nasty.

15

Thank you all so much. I will be back in front of the laptop in about an hour. I will have a look at everything you have all posted! I guess it's good for everyone to know. Haha!

I have a Gmail account :) x

16

We use F-Secure and got it from Virgin media for the first year then a good deal as were still with Virgin not sure how much it is if your not with Virgin and we have got it on our devices as well :). You may also find the hack maybe of just your Amazon account and email account rather than the whole computer. Sorry I can't be of much help other than that.

17

If you have Gmail then you will have free cloud storage and can access your photos anywhere. Look at Google drive.

18

You can check here for your best options for a free antivirus: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2388652,00.asp (hope the link's allowed, if not just google PC magazine and then search for "free antivirus" on their page).

If you are using Windows, I've heard (but couldn't vouch) that Microsoft's free antivirus (you can download it from the Microsoft official website) is good enough for basic users.

We use Norton, so I don't have any personal experience with free antiviruses, but I do use the above mentioned magazine's recommendations for lots of other free software and never was disappointed.

Also, do invest in an external HD, and make a regular backup to it of all your important stuff (there is also a setting in Windows that will do it automatically for you if you program it to) - keep in mind that if you have lots of things to back up (like your photos) then this takes up a considerable amount of resources from the PC and also time, so you'd want to set it to do the backup for you when you can leave your PC at it and don't need to use it for much else.

AND: NEVER EVER OPEN LINKS FROM E-MAILS unless you are 200% sure of where they come from (so +1 on always checking the sender's actual e-mail address not just the name) and +1 on checking the link BEFORE CLICKING IT (just place your mouse over the link without clicking it and you'll see a small pop-up kind of window that shows you the entire address where the link will take you). Also, a TIP: if you do for whatever reason click on such a link, but start having immediately second thoughts, close your browser ASAP. It might help prevent the damage.

Also, before you get a chance of doing the damage control that others already suggested (checking your PC and installing some protection), I would NOT use it for sensitive stuff (like home banking, buying online, typing passwords, caming or whatever you wouldn't want to share with strangers). If you MUST use it, than at least use a safe browser (the privacy versions, all browsers have them, or even TOR) and the built-in screen keypad (instead of the keys on the laptop, even non-touch windows PCs have an onscreen keyboard you can just use to type with the help of the mouse) as these will make it difficult to the hacker to access your personal stuff!

Hope you get it all sorted out!

19

Got it sorted guys!! Thank you all so much!

20

Another vote for malwarebytes, if you have an infection, it will find it.

Personally I would never pay for anti virus, things like avg (which I use) and avast do a great job and in a lot of cases are considered "better" then the well known brands.